Presence: The Inherence of the Prototype within Images and Other Objects (Histories of Vision) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0754634930 ISBN 13: 9780754634935

Publisher: Routledge, 2006

Synopsis

In about 25 BC tribesmen of the kingdom of Meroe placed a bronze head of Augustus, cut from a full-length statue, beneath the steps of a temple of victory: the decapitated head of the Emperor was thus regularly trampled underfoot. Two millennia later, during the second Gulf War, Iraqis 'insulted' a toppled bronze statue of Saddam Hussein by beating it with their shoes. Do these chronologically distant but apparently related examples of the defamation of images imply that the persons represented were regarded by their detractors as in some way 'present' in the images? Presence: The Inherence of the Prototype within Images and Other Objects reconsiders the notion of 'presence' in objects. The first book to address the issue directly, it contains a series of case studies covering a broad geographical and chronological range from ancient Greece and the Incas to industrial America and contemporary India, as well as examples from the canon of western European art. The studies reveal the widespread evidence for this striking form of response and allow readers to see how 'presence' is evoked and either embraced or repressed in differing historical and cultural contexts. Featuring a variety of disciplines and approaches, the book will be of interest to students of art history, art theory, visual culture, anthropology, psychology and philosophy.

About this title

Review

'an excellent prospect. The group of contributors is outstanding, as well as satisfyingly international. The subject is one of the most important to have surfaced in art history since the late 1980's and one that this kind of cross-cultural 'world art history' approach can really help progress. I would expect the volume to arouse a good deal of interest.' Jas' Elsner, University of Oxford, UK

About the Author

Robert Maniura is at the School of History of Art, Film and Media, Birkbeck College, University of London, UK.

Rupert Shepherd is currently based in the Department of Western Art at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, UK.

Edition details

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0754634930
• ISBN 13: 9780754634935
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 340
• Editor: Maniura Robert, Shepherd Rupert